Unpaid work the hidden enemy of economic equality

For Australia to truly accelerate progress to economic equality, it needs to look closely at the unpaid work forces that are holding women back, writes Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, founder of Financy.

The latest Financy Women’s Index (FWX), which helps us contextualise the state of economic equality in Australia, tells us that progress went backwards in 2023 as an increasing number of women were unable to work to their desired potential and continued to do the bulk of unpaid work.

The Index fell 1 point (pt) to 75.5 pts out of 100 over the 2023 calendar year, with the December quarter (-2pts) firmly putting the brakes on progress.

The Women’s Index results were dragged lower by declines in the gender gaps in the Underemployment Rate (-1.56 pts) and Unpaid Work (-2.19 pts) which offset improvement in the Gender Pay Gap (+1.29 pts).

In 2024, it’s inexcusable that progress towards women’s gender equality should be heading backwards on a number of fronts,” said Nicki Hutley, who is one of the economists that review the Index.

As we celebrate progress in board rooms, International Women’s Day on March 8 needs to see further bold action from corporates and governments, offering women more pathways to meaningful, well-paid careers of choice.

Men must be an integral part of the solution, especially around sharing the burden of unpaid work.

The Index results come as the UN has themed this International Women’s Day: Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress.

It also comes ahead of the release of Australia’s first ever strategy for gender equality, which is expected to detail how the government will accelerate progress to equality by tackling several critical issues including unpaid and paid care, economic security for women and gender-based violence.

Nicki Hutley, who is one of the economists that review the Index, says the result is bitterly disappointing given that 2023 gave us so much cause for optimism from the cultural and sporting worlds as well as on the regulatory front.

Despite 2023 being a busy year for regulatory changes such as WGEA gender pay gap transparency for private companies, and also social events like the Matildas in the FIFA World Cup, Barbie Movie and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, Australian women remain unable to realise their full economic potential.

The Underemployment rate gender gap worsened as the female underemployment rate hit a two-year high with fewer people, in particular women, unable to secure the work they wanted. This has come at a time of record unemployment, higher cost of living pressures and constraints in full-time work hours in female-heavy industries like Accommodation and Food Services and Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services

One of the biggest barriers to gender equality remains unpaid housework and care, with the FWX Unpaid Work sub-index worsening over 2023 as the underlying gender gap widened, as reflected by 2022 HILDA Survey data published in the recent December quarter.

Whilst both women and men spent 2 per cent fewer hours on unpaid housework and childcare, the gender gap didn’t close because women continued to do the lion’s share of domestic tasks (59% female v 40% male expressed as percentage of total paid and unpaid work).

For added perspective on this, the average woman spent 35 hours per week in 2022, compared to 36 hours in 2021 either looking after children and/or doing inside or outdoors housework.

Over the same time, the average man spent 23 hours a week in Unpaid Work compared to 24 hours the year prior.

The back peddling in unpaid work added to the targeted timeframes to achieving equality in unpaid work, which now stands at 45.5 years in 2023 compared to 21.9 years for the gender pay gap, the FWX shows. The median timeframe to economic equality is 27.7 years based on all seven areas measured by the Index.

The Gender Pay Gap was increasingly in focus over 2023 and has given us some reason to be a little less bleak about the outlook.

The FWX Gender Pay Gap sub-index improved to 88 pts in December 2023 as the gender pay gap fell to a record low of 12 per cent, from 13 per cent in the June quarter as measured by the ABS Full Time Adult Average Weekly Ordinary Times Earnings.

The FWX Employment sub-index also improved (0.53pts) to 72.9 pts in 2023 as women increased their number of monthly hours worked by 1.6% during the calendar year, outpacing the rate of growth among men’s monthly hours work, up 0.8 per cent.

Despite these gains, the capacity of the available female workforce in Australia to engage in paid work is running at 63 per cent, significantly shy of the 87 per cent for men.

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